Almonds and Cherries
by Billy Tom Plummer Ledger
Summary: Prudence Bella Halliwell, the eldest daughter of Phoebe and Coop, has really no clue of where to go from high school, starts practicing some magic just as Phoebe and Paige, two newly wed wives, start to question their lives and dreams for eternity
1. Chapter 1

Almonds and Cherries

For Wisdom and Divination

**Just to have it said, Charmed had a cast for their show, and so do I. There are really five characters of my cast that you need to know, for the original will never change. Prue, Phoebe and Coop's daughter, is Kat Dennings, for I love her so much, she's such a beautiful actress and just amazing. Emilie De Ravin as the second daughter, Penny 'Loopy', and Josie is the youngest, so Chloe Grace Moretz. My favorite actress, besides Twilight wise, Kristen Stewart as Melinda, and Tom Sturridge as Sam, Paige and Henry's son. **

**Please, no grief, I did cast to personal preference but so would you.**

"I could floss with that girl – I could floss with you – Little stick bimbos."

"Ugh!" I scream, shutting my door behind me, locking the lock without turning around, and I walk forward, take a CD out of my collection randomly and start playing it on the highest volume I can find, and then I flop onto my wild and unmade bed, and take a pillow from under me and scream into the zebra printed fabric. "Ahh!"

"Prudence?" My father asks, screaming from behind the door as he knocks, not pounding, yet. "Prudence, get out here, your mother and I need to talk to you."

"I have _nothing _to say to you!" I scream and then turn onto my side, facing the wall, and I end up laying on the remote for my CD player, and that turns it off, so I fish out my iPod out of my jeans pocket and blast The Clash music into my ears. I close my eyes, but that's not enough, so I take apart a hot pink pillow case for the melatonin and aspirin bottles I have stashed in there, I'm all out of adderall, and I take two melatonin and one aspirin, then turn on my side for my tin water bottle and take down three gulps.

Thrice is charmed.

I don't dream, I never do, which is weird, being psychic and all. When I turn over on my side, still not under my covers and in my blue jeans and my silk black tank top, but I feel weird – watched. At first I think my eyes are still closed, but I see my wall, right across from me, covered from top to bottom of posters of my favorite bands, mostly The Temptations, The Flaming Lips, The Clash, Joshua Radin, The Cure, The Ramones, David Bowie and Joe Strummer. Posters of colorful Wiccan symbols that me and Penny have mad – Gah! Not her, again.

I hear a rustling near me, and hushed whispers that I can make out, but the voices take time to be as clear to me.

"Shush, don't try to wake her."

"That's why we're here, dumbass."

"Don't call me a dumbass – _you're _the dumbass."

"Mel?" I ask, turning onto my side, and see my little sister Josie on the floor, her curly blond locks in pigtails, and I'm guessing she's dressed in her regular pajamas, the only pair of pajamas pants she has, rolled up pink and white plaid and a white crewneck shirt, her medium sized lips pouting, as it is her natural expression. She's fifteen, and a hit with the guys, unlike me and Penny at her age. She got the charm.

"Hey, sweetie," Melinda says sweetly as I try to sit up straight, and then Melinda sticks out her arm, handing me a bag of Doritos. "How are you doing?"

"What is _she _doing in here?" I ask, my eyes glaring at my little sister. Buffy Josie, as I like to call her. What? She reminds me of Buffy, except, I like her voice better, it's deeper than Sarah Michelle Gellar's.

Josie shrinks back, her shoulders slumping.

"Eh, we're here for mental support and back up," Melinda tells me and offers me her hand. "Ice cream?"

Now, who wouldn't get out of their refuge for ice cream? Especially for Cherry Garcia, which is mine, and forever mine, no matter how much Josie and I fight over it. Melinda brought a few cartons with her, the girl is a super mega chick, she brought pizza to make, cookie dough batter, microwavable popcorn, and three different flavors of Ben & Jerry's. She knew of everything, especially to not bring a second Cherry Garcia. That is mine, and mine only, not just the carton, but the flavor.

We're as quiet as can be, and Josie manages only to piss me off only a few times during the night, but I'm her older sister, isn't it my job to be pissed? Well, we watch a movie, finish our cartons quickly enough, and then get the Ouija board out, because, the true witching hour is at three a.m.

We fall asleep on the couch, I don't know when I wake up, but I do, and it's seven in the morning, I wake up to the sound of the front door closing, so I'm guessing Phoebe has left, and yes, I don't call my mother _mom, _because she's… she's more like our doctor, our psychiatrist, than our mother. I think she's spent too much time trying to help people than really be there for them.

My aunts always tell me of stories of how she was in high school, specifically Aunt Piper, Melinda's mom. They tell me about her wild days, days of high school and quirkiness, but she's rarely like that. She's _never _like that now. But I roll onto my side, and I see Josie on the floor, her head on Melinda's lap, and Melinda, looking like the surfer chic she is with her brown hair all tousled and curly, in her light brown sweats that looked pretty thin and a peach racer back. Well, I guess the fact that she _is _a surfer chick, helps with the allusion.

It takes me a second, a few stretches and breathes before I realize that a quilt has been put on me, and I wonder for a second if my mom put it there, but then I guess it was my dad, because he usually wakes up at five forty five to get ready for Magic School, where he works, teaching… teaching something that Cupids know about.

Sighing, I pull the quilt off and sit up straight, taking my time, and just… sitting there, looking at things differently.

I'm leaving soon, I'm going to be graduating in May, and it's February. Yeah, my mother just found out that I haven't, really, decided on college, because in her mind, I had decided for college just by getting into Brown, NYU, UCLA, and a dozen community colleges and two years, but I made my decision to not go, and that made her… mad, to say the least.

That's what the screaming and locking doors behind me was about yesterday, Phoebe and I got in this fight about how I'm still a minor and still her daughter, and how I'll always be apart in this family, and I'll always be Charmed. But what? Am I supposed to live with my sisters until my thirties? Wyatt, the eldest of our _second generation, _had a kid when he was seventeen, okay, the mother was eighteen and a heroin junkie, in rehab for the entire pregnancy and birth, but he has custody now, he's twenty two, living with a new girlfriend right now, someone who cooks.

He's lucky, and Chris! Chris, he met Bianca, his soul mate and love of his life when he was seventeen, okay, again she was older, nineteen and already with child, a three year old child, but that's what made Chris love her, that and she was an ex Phoenix assassin at the time. Now, okay, he's twenty, he's healthy, about to graduate from Stanford, of all places, and can't decide if he wants to be a doctor, teacher, or counselor, though he's edging toward doctor. He's having a hard time making choices, because he has too many, I just… I don't know where to go from here.

Doesn't mean I'm going to break into song.

Well, it's Saturday, and after my hell bent week, almost literally, I just want some peace and quiet; to sleep. Let's see, Monday, after Penny being possessed for two days, we were trying to save her, it took us until Tuesday, or, technically it was Wednesday at the time, because it was like three or four in the morning.

Charmed and Teenagers.

Yeah, it definitely works for us, de-possessing our sister in the underworld just a few hours before school and a calculus test. Yeah… Good times.

Thursday, well, that was Valentine's Day, and we're half Cupid, we love Valentine's Day, right? No, Penny likes it, because she likes making heart shaped ornaments, it's the only kind she can make, really, and she likes getting people presents, we always share presents on Valentine's Day. Dad always takes Phoebe out on a date, being all special and romantic, the little sap he is, and Penny likes to make cards for us, and give us little _coupons, _stuff like free foot massages, helping with groceries, shoulder massage, and the thing is, Loopy is pretty messed up, she sometimes _doesn't _give us free coupons, sometimes it's free foot massages for two liters of Lemonade, Pink or Raspberry, help with groceries, as long as I don't have to go along or actually put them away, just carry and my favorite – I'll clean your room if you clean mine.

Yeah, Thursday was a blast.

And every other Friday is family night, and that's an all night event, sometimes starting with a movie or karaoke or some embarrassment harassment our parents have cooked up for us Charmed children, and then dinner and dessert, usually ending with us at a book shop or browsing for music or DVDs or shoes, either way, it's like a nice little break, but at the same time, as much as it can be calming, it can be a thunder storm. My mother as the lightning, and Josie, Loopy, Dad, or even me as the clouds – the warning, the cause, the reason.

Of course, I've been a senior in high school since August, and mom has had every opportunity to ask about college, hell, I was applying last year, and she asks me _now_, what the hell? And we start talking about it, and our voices raise over everyone else's as they try to get a say or calm us down, but we just… clash.

Like my favorite band.

Now it's going to be a good day, and I'm not going to have to deal with _anything_, no bickering sisters, smothering mothers, homicidal, sometimes _suicidal _demons, I mean, after all, we _are_ the Charmed ones. Thought not as strong as Phoebe, Piper and Paige, I don't think so, not until they die.

Which is ludicrous, because, if they haven't died in the past, then they never will, and well… I don't want them to die or anything, and I don't need it, I just want to be free, to not be compared, or to even be lesser Charmed because they are the greats and greatest.

It's like a Greatest Hits album, when the songs on there aren't always the ones you like.

But this will be a good day, and I'm looking nice in a pale green shirt, usually not my style, but today it is, that cinches in the middle, where, if you put your finger there, you feel the texture of flowers. It looks kind of weird, with one side being loner than the other and my breasts looking like they are bulging out, but that's just them, since the shirt is just my size. I think _someone_ got it for me… I don't remember who. In my comfy blue jeans, I pull on my favorite pair of shoes, tall boots with studded crosses on the right sides. After makeup and hair, I'm on my way out, I grab my lap top bag, where, my lap top, of course, is as long as a few books, and an extra shirt I'm packing in case it gets colder out. I really only have one jacket, and that's enough, because this is my leather jacket I got from Forever 21, with the reddish – purple colored satin inside it.

It's very interesting, walking around San Francisco with both headphones in, listening to electronic of all kinds, some alternative and folk, but mostly British seventies music and some classic rock.

It's enlightening.

I walk to one bus stop, and wait for a few minutes before it returns and I get off a few blocks away from the final destination, still rocking to the music when I get there, and when I do, I spot someone leaving just as I'm coming up to the house, the woman holding a large folder to her chest as she closes the door, and then let her arm hang next to her as she walks down the steps, then she sees me and smiles.

I take out a headphone just as she greets me.

"Prue, well, it's nice to see you," she says, smiling wide as we come closer and hug. It feels nice to hug Aunt Piper, she always feels homey, like an actual mother, not a shrink. I hug her back, and we stand like that for a while, after all, it's been, what? Ten days since we last saw each other? Maybe two weeks, oh no, it was just before Loopy became possessed, so… last, Wednesday? Hmm.

"I've missed you," I told her truthfully, I can never lie. I'm a horrible liar, and I can't keep secrets, a hundred and ten percent Phoebe, is what people call me, and sadly, it's true. I just hope I don't end up like her, but as long as I'm the teenager her, it's cool.

"You've missed my cooking," she reprises, taking a step back, her arms still wrapped around me, like I'm a coveted present she doesn't want to let go. I love Aunt Piper.

"That too," I add sheepishly, smiling and then I kiss her on the cheek. "I love you," I tell her and start walking towards the door.

"I love you too, hon," she says as she walks toward her car. I open the door; it's unlocked, as always. The weird thing in this family, we're awfully trusting of one another, after demons and warlocks and vampires and everything, we still keep our doors unlocked, either that, or growing old with senility, and just being used to it.

I feel familiarity walking into the manor, yeah, it's not the same as our townhouse, ours is more cluttered, with only three bedrooms, two and a half bathrooms, and with Loopy just going from bedroom to bedroom. She doesn't like to sleep alone, and we don't really feel right, letting her after all of those suicide attempts, yeah, she's taking medication for multiple personality disorder and paranoid schizophrenia. She's not really; she just likes drugs, and is a really good actress, so it works. Though, ironically, it's starting to mess with her head… or she's messing with us, you never know.

Opening the door to Melinda's room, I'm not surprised to find her not there. Her room is kind of clean, in the way that it is pretty bare, but creative at the same time, she just doesn't need a whole lot besides her Wicca, art and surfing. I'm about to close the door, to just go up to the attic and check out the book and read books, but I walk to the dresser she has, and the wide antique mirror she has on top of it, choose a lipstick of hers, it's something pink and I try it on instead of my usual brown, taking a cloth of hers to wipe my lips off first.


	2. Chapter 2

Paige woke up early enough for her, after all, she had no job yet, and her interview was still getting hyped up in her juices. It was Monday, waiting to be Thursday for her. In simple, pink cotton cute pajama pants and a somewhat satin pink lacey tank top, she walked from the bedroom into the kitchen, it wasn't hard, it all being on the same floor, anyway.

She liked living at Henry's apartment, she liked being married to him, with him.

"Hey," Henry said, standing in the kitchen, already dressed and looking nice, out on the go with a cup of coffee in his hands. "Tired?" He asked with a smirk, as if he doesn't remember what happened last night. Little perv, Paige thought, taking the cup out of his hands and walking around him, sipping out of it, ooh, it was just the way she liked it as she opened the refrigerator door, Henry came up from behind, giving her a hug from the behind and kissing her on the neck. "I love you," he breathed into her ear, then brushed the hair away before he kissed her again. "Have a good day," he whispered into her ear.

"You two," Paige said and then turned around to kiss Henry on the lips. "I'm going to miss you," she confessed, leaning into his shirt. "While I, the unemployed, am home, alone."

"I'm sorry I have to leave you," Henry said, brushing back her hair.

"After last night, some distance would do us some good," Paige said, leaning back against the fridge door, which was now closed. "But I don't feel like being alone today…"

"Well, then we should work on having us some kids so you wont be so lonely," Henry said, scooting forward, kissing Paige awkwardly, as Paige was silent now.

Phoebe went to work with a smile on her face, and letting her purse sit on her desk, she took her seat and started to boot up her computer and thumb through letters. Absent mindedly, she started to hum to herself. Elise came in to look at her, just standing in the doorway, thinking to herself.

"What's gotten you in such a good mood?" Elise asked, with very little curiousity. "The new husband do everything right, for the first time," she added with bitterness in her voice.

"Yes, actually he is," Phoebe told her with a smile and then cocked her head to the computer. "And not for the first time," she added with a smile.

"Ooh," Elise says with no interest in the matter. "Well, I guess that's why the ratings have spiked up lately," she says and dumps a new pile of letters onto Phoebe's desk. "Good luck," she told her with heavy sarcasm in her voice.

"All that I need," Phoebe muttered under her breath as she started to go through the other letters. Phoebe calmly worked for a while before Coop came into the office, but she didn't notice at first because she was so concentrated that Coop just sat on the couch for a while, and then he stood up and hovered over the desk. After a while of being ignored, he got impatient and picked something up from her desk and then dropped it, making her jump.

"Finally! I've been waiting around here for the past five minutes," he said as he walked back to the door, and then leaned against the wall. "If I hadn't gotten here early, we might just miss the reservation."

"What reservation?" Phoebe asked, confused now.

"Oh, it's this cute little restaurant that has just opened in the downtown area," Coop told her, teasing her as he walked forward. "Owned and managed by our very own, our very lovely Piper Halliwell, who will blow us up if we don't get there on time," and he let his hands plant themselves on her desk and smile at Phoebe, and she smiled back.

"Oh," Phoebe muttered and then stood up, out of her chair and grabbed her coat. "Let's get going before we take this marriage to hell – _literally_."

The restaurant was doing well for its first day, after all, Piper had four or five tables already filled to the max, all thanks to Phoebe, Paige and Billie. Leo sat at a table with Chris, Wyatt and Billie, right next to the table where Paige, Henry, Phoebe and Coop had gathered, and they had all gathered, and surprisingly, Henry and Coop became really good friends, bonding over sports, as usual, with some quips from Leo about baseball from his table.

It was fun, and normal, something new to them.

"I have to tell you," Leo told Coop and Henry. "Fatherhood… without it, there's really nothing else to live for."

"Ooh, looks like we have to tell Piper something," Paige sang, and smiled wickedly.

"Aw, it's nothing. I sure as hell can't wait for my little kids to come along," Henry said, and gave Paige a smooth glance, but that only made her feel awkward and look away. A look of despair swallowed up Henry's eyes, as if his heart had been broken.

"Well, Phoebe and I are going to get started right away when it comes to our family," Coop said, giving Phoebe's hand a squeeze and smiling sweetly.

"Ew," Paige and Billie said at the same time, and then exchanging disgusting looks on their faces.

"Oh, come on, you know you and Henry are going to have children, you have to," Coop said, causing shivers up Paige's spine.

"Yeah, because what else do we have to do with our lives?" Paige asked nervously and chuckled quickly in that anxious way of hers. "Oh, I need to go to the bathroom." She said before she left, and Phoebe loyally followed behind her. In the bathroom, Paige splashed water in her face, trying to calm herself down.

"You okay, sweet heart?" Phoebe asked with all of her heart as she stepped forward and placed a hand on Paige's arm.

"Ugh, sure. Yeah, yeah, I am," Paige said, trying to convince herself more than Phoebe. "No," she finally said, the truth coming out. "I hate how – that's basically all – I just want to be with him, and not think about the future, because the future is –"

"Too far off," Phoebe said. "I know, and I don't know what I want more, to have the lovey dovey relationship with Coop first or the family. It feels like everything is being rushed, and I don't know if that's good or bad, because I don't want to miss anything. I don't want to miss him."

"Yeah, I just don't want – I have to find myself, the wife. I don't want to have to find the mother in me before I find the wife – it feels like I'm skipping a step, and I could never do that, never miss an episode, or a book, I – I. Oh, this is just so screwed up," she said, her hands covering her face now.

"I know," Phoebe said and took Paige in her arms for a hug. "Trust me, I know how screwed up marriage can get."

"Yeah, you've had the marriage from hell a few times," Paige said with a weak, semi amused smile. "I just – I want to get this right, and I don't want to have to do it a second time."

"So don't take any advice from Grams," Phoebe told her with a smile


	3. Chapter 3

Over tea with Melinda, Prue started to rant on and on about Phoebe and all of her teenage hatred towards her mother, all of which Melinda quite didn't understand because she and Piper were pretty close in a way that they both knew that they had their differences, and they knew when to leave the other alone and when to be there for each other. Melinda was pretty close to both of her parents, but not as close as she was to her brother, Chris, because those two are inseparable, almost telepathic.

"God, I wish I lived here," Prue confessed while Melinda refilled her cup, except with milk this time, and she brought out the Oreos too. "This place is so homey and comfy, like… it's right. My house, it's all so cluttered."

"Well, it _is _a townhouse," Melinda pointed out and walked to the table, and Prue followed her from where she was leaning against the counter. "It'll be okay," Melinda told her with confidence, confidence in a tired voice but confidence in the fact that Prue would be eighteen in just a week, nine days to be exact, on the fourteenth. Yes, a half cupid born on Valentine's Day, what a cliché.

"Yeah, but it's so dark there, with its ruby red walls, the brownness of it all, and… ugh, there's not even that many windows. Like five or four in all. I like this place," Prue said, stretching out her arms in front of her. "It's nice and bright."

"Yeah, I like it too, in all of its quirks and charms," Melinda told her with rolling eyes, she knew that Prue didn't have to live here with all of the much needed repairs. "We're just lucky we have Leo around."

"Leo!" Prue exclaimed. "I love Leo – he's so sweet, I mean – he truly is the only person I know who can inspire… anyone," Prue said with a smile. "Who else could get me to love soccer so much?"

"Certainly not our mothers, god, they hated it – every second, and Piper wanted to be a soccer mom!" Melinda scoffed at the thought as she dipped her Oreos.

"Yet she always complains about it all, about all of the track meetings and tournaments Chris had to go to, and you! The devil child," Prue said with a laugh. "Let's see," she started counting with licks of the cream off the Oreos. "Soccer," one, "Baseball," two, "Volleyball", a second of thought then three, "Drama, even though you were only doing lights."

"Not my fault she insisted on coming, and I don't think Drama should count," Melinda said with a pout.

"Yeah, but you're like Piper's golden child," Prue said, even though it killed her to admit the truth. "You're in yearbook, and drama club, you have friends, and okay, not that many girlfriends," Prue said with a devilish smile. "You have… boyfriends."

"Ugh, don't remind me!" Melinda groaned as she let her head fall on the table, her arms concealing her face. "God, I have enough drama and a big enough list –"

"He he, I wouldn't say that they were that big –"

"Prudence Bella!" Melinda said as she snapped her head up, and smiling and then taking an Oreo and throwing it at Prue, causing a riot of deliciousness. They took the box of cookies and some milk and walked up the stairs into the attic. Sitting across from each other, they started to throw some things in a pot, just being cool and weird as Prue made some rhymes.

"Sliced apples and petals of daisies for the beautiful goddess Aphrodite in all of her glory, in the spirit of motherhood, fertility," Prue chanted as she let the petals fall from her fingertips as Melinda finished slicing up the apple and dropped it in. "I still don't understand the egg yolk and garlic."

"For removing negativity –"

"I don't have negativity," Prue said on the defensive side.

"Who says I was talking about you?" Melinda smirked with a knowing wink. "Garlic for protection, for relief of nightmares, which college is, and graduation as well, for everything, basically," Melinda confessed to herself as she let some small Birch twigs fall into the pot. "For new beginnings, protection and purification," she added.

"And fertility, don't forget that once we have to go and get another pregnancy test," Prue added, causing Melinda to send darts with her eyes, not literally of course, if Melinda wanted pay back she would blow up the pot and make Prue jump or something.

"Almonds for wisdom and cherries for divination," she said lastly and threw them into the pot, and with her powers, she set the pot on fire a little bit to steam it all up, but accidently blew it up, accidently.

At the manor, Paige and Phoebe were hanging out in the attic with Billie, trying to teach her all about the book and history and magic, but it wasn't going so well, they couldn't stop laughing. None of them, and they didn't try to stop, even.

No one was really paying attention, Billie and Paige and Phoebe were all just keeping their hands busying, taking ingredients apart and throwing them together aimlessly, mindlessly, basically, and that was never good, because only blasts and fatality came out of that.

One of the two would have to do.


	4. Chapter 4

**Here's a little flashback to satisfy as I think about where to go.... and how to go....**

"This has to be done smoothly –"

"Smoothly my a-"

"Josephine Bella!"

"It's _Josie_, dumbass."

"Shut up."

"Shut the hell up."

"What are you two doing?" I mumble in question as I lay on my side, not nearly ready to get up, I look slightly up at my bright neon blue alarm clock, and it's seven in the morning. Okay, eight on a Sunday is the most reasonable time to get up; nine or ten is more like it, though.

"Waking you up," Loopy told me, throwing a pillow at my face as she knew I was awake now. "Dad's making blueberry pancakes."

"For you, he's making strawberry for me and mixed ones for Loopy and mom."

"It's _Penny_, asshole."

"For fucks sake! Get out of here," I screamed and threw the pillow from behind my head at them as they squirmed and ran out of the room. "Ugh!" I grunted as I let my head rest on the second pillow, wishing for sleep.

"Sweetie?" Mom asks from behind the door, knocking lightly on my bedroom door. "There's blueberry pancakes out here, some scrambled eggs and your dads hash browns… come on, sweetie, please come down. It's the weekend before your finals; you need food and some fun."

"I need sleep!" I counter act.

"You can take a nap later; you're also seeing a move with Melinda and Samuel. Come on, sweet heart, you know I only love you," ugh.

"Fine," I mutter to myself and drag myself out of bed. My body feels heavy, and my feet feel too planted on the floor, like I can't walk, only sleep. I open the door with hesitancy, but the doorknob feels heavy as well and hard to turn… so fucking hard to turn… "Mom?" I ask, rubbing my eyes together.

"Come here," she said, opening her arms and helping me walk down the stairs in my groggy state. Sitting at our large round table, I see Loopy and Josie picking off each other's plate, acting all cute and picky, doing their own little thing.

"Here you go, my little girl," dad says as he plants blueberry pancakes in front of me, and in that fatherly way that he does, he kisses the top of my bed head messy hair.

"Hmm… this is the life…"


	5. Chapter 5

**Okay, so… finals. **

**Yeah, they suck, but this Friday, the twenty eighth is my last day of school… that I'm not going to, because no one ever does… does that make sense? **

I didn't want to open my eyes, I couldn't open my eyes – how could anyone accept reality at this point? I just wanted a chill, laid back day, like all of my other ones. Why do I always get pulled into Prue's games? Seriously, hanging out with her is like a full time job, because we never can just go to one place, we always have to meet up with people, and get high or do acid or something, and I have to do the walk of shame the next morning. Yeah…

"Mmm…" I moan as I open my eyes, to inspect the damage. Oh, I am so going to get grounded for this mess. My mom is going to freak, I mean, she's a neat freak, she freaks over everything, over my bedroom, and usually takes it upon her to clean it. God, maybe Leo will be on my side, because, as the best dad ever, he calms down the beast.

Opening my eyes, I saw Prue lain across from me, lying on her back, her face all dirty from the explosion and I move – or try to, because it pains me so much just to drag my body, but I hunch over on my elbows and crawl and hover over Prue, even though I know she would kill me if she saw me right now.

"Wow," I whisper to myself, and look around and at the bright lit sky and world around us. "Look at the mess we made, Prue, ugh…" I crane my neck, and it cracks. "I think we've made a record, and we're only seventeen!" I tell her, leaning into her ear as I say it in a hushed voice, and I lean in and kiss her cheek. "I love you, Prue. No matter what or how many messes we go through."

I try to raise my arm, as if to freeze what's going on, but I don't know why, really. Some movement would be good, and I raise my arm, though it feels heavy and like it's anchored to my body, and I'm drowning in this grounding that I've set myself in. I feel a large hit on my arm, that makes me roll onto my other side, and I catch my arm and hold onto it, and it pains. God damn it, it hurts! Oh god, and I look down at the arm, and see it looks exposed and torn… like something that's been blown up.

Another explosion occurs above my head.

Is my mother possessed again?

"Piper!" I hear Billie scream and looking up; I see that she is holding down Piper's hands. "Look, I'm so sorry, this was all of our fault okay – but okay, Phoebe is just fine, okay, Phoebe is not dead – she's – she's alive, okay, she's alive."

Looking over at Prue, I wonder if Phoebe would have died earlier – and if she wasn't there or here…

Another explosion occurs above my head, and I duck just in time.

"What the – God damn it, are you trying to blow my head off!" I scream, and while holding onto my arm, I try to stand and I see Billie holding Piper's arms down again. "Look – I know that I made a mess –"

"Made a mess?" Piper bellows.

"I'm sorry!" I apologize, but she just raises her arms to blow me up, and I can see the hatred in her eyes – the strangeness, the unfamiliarity she has of me right now, but just as the explosion occurs, I fly the other way and miss it, only to land on my side, and on my bruised arm again that for one of the rare times in my life, I scream out of pain.

"Piper! What are you doing – she's just an innocent –"

"We do not know that Paige, until this is all resolved –"

"And how is it going to get resolved, huh? By you blowing everything up? Sorry to beat you to it, but I've already done that," Paige quips, as always, with her hands on her hips, looking like the before pictures of the explosion rather than the after.

"Alright, what is going on here?" Leo asked in that awkward way that he does with the laugh and smile. "Oh my god," he says and rushes over to me, and holds up my arm, looking at it, making it sting and making me wince. "Oh, oh, don't move – please don't move, Paige, we need a healer, this is bad." Paige rushes by my side and I roll over my eyes, where is Wyatt when you need him? I look over to Prue, though and see her lying lifeless over there… all alone.

"No," I whisper to myself, but that is enough to make dad look up and see Prue as Paige takes her time healing my massively huge wound.

"Phoebe," he whispers himself and then looks up and orders to Coop to go mend to her. God, I hope – no, she _can't _– she's not allowed to die, that bitch is _not _allowed to die. She got that email.

As soon as the bells stop ringing, I let my head fall back in my daddy's arms and fall asleep.


	6. Chapter 6

"Well, you said _Flight of the Conchords _was too boring to watch," Melinda hissed at Prue as they sat, cuddled up in a circle of crystals.

"Yeah, well, you were the one saying, oh my mother's the famous chef," Prue retorted, mocking Melinda with full force now.

"Hey," Melinda hissed back in a whisper. "I'm the one who just got attacked, by my own fucking mother – eighteen years before we are even born! This is _not _cool, Prue."

"Well, this isn't exactly my idea of a good time, either." Prue said, letting her chin rest on her knees.

"They shouldn't be caged!" Leo argued, he didn't know what to do besides that. All he could think about was the lost, innocent and scared look of that girl's eyes. Her light green, and soulful eyes.

"We don't know who –"

"Or what they are," Paige said. "I could only heal half of them. In case you forgot Leo that only ever happened with _Cole – _remember him? Big, scary, dark, handsome, tried to kill us?" Paige rambled on easily enough as if it was all casual and just another day.

"Okay, can you please not talk about Cole," Phoebe asked as she jumped off the counter only to have to lean against the counter, dizzy now.

"Sweetie, slow down," Coop said, holding onto her from behind, and rubbing her temples together and kissing the top of her head. He could feel how uneasy and sick she felt, but at the same time, he sensed something else, something of… fear and confusion.

Then the explosion occurred, and it was loud and disturbing to the semblance of the conversation they were all having. They all ran up the stairs to go check out the scene, except Leo, Henry and Phoebe.

"Well, we're both human – that's why we're here," Henry said, and that only made Leo turn around and walk up the stairs. "Okay, I just don't feel like getting yelled and lectured by Paige again. I'm trying to be a good boy," he joked, but Phoebe barely smiled. "Need help sitting down?"

"Yeah, yeah, that'd be great."

"What – " Prue waved her hands in front of her face. "Was that?" She questioned, out of breath and coughing from the smoke and explosion.

"You told me to set it on fire – and well, I have difficulty – you know, on _just _setting something on fire, and well – they're crystals! What did you expect? Paige is the best at these damn crystals – we'll have to remind her in the_ future_."

"Shhh, Shhh," Prue hurriedly shushed Melinda as Piper, Paige, Coop and Leo ran into the attic.

"What is going on here?" Piper yelled in question as she came to the stop.

Prue raised her arm, a little awkward as she felt like she was in school again with this Piper. "Um, I already asked that."

Piper, a little PMS-y tried to blow Prue up, but she gratefully dodged it by faded in and out, the little heart replacing her body when she did.

"Wha- Ha – Is she a – What is it with you cupids?" Piper yelled, making Prue roll her eyes and fade again. "Ah –"

"Don't worry," Coop said before fading out himself, making Melinda attracting all of the attention. It was these moments that she always thought of, my name as Matilda instead of Melinda.

"You," Piper said, pointing her index finger at Melinda and then forming her hands as if to blow up the entire house, making Melinda suck in an extra long breath, but Leo brought Piper's hands down as he held her from behind.

"Yes," he murmured and kissed her neck. "I love you," he whispered into her ear, making Melinda smile and Paige dart her eyes at the teenage girl. "Come on," he said, taking her hands and guiding her down the stairs. Melinda moved, as if to follow, but Paige stopped her in her tracks.

"Where do you think you're going?" She asked, more protective than anything else. After a brief silence and dark eyes, Paige told her, "You're not a part of this family – until we know better, you're just another demon."

_No, I'm just another surfer chick,_ Melinda thought to herself.


	7. Chapter 7

**Okay, I'm not really sure where to go from here... I don't know, I think I got amnesia as well as retardation for throwing my outline for the story out - it was with my math papers, and who doesn't want to get rid of Geometry REAL BAD, so... yeah, if anyone has an idea, that'd be great ~ just comment, and thanks for charmed - darkangel for commenting on chapter six!**

In the kitchen, it seems like everyone is surrounding and talking over each other, because everyone is worried and more concerned about just getting rid of the problem – making Melinda feeling worse than ever, making her feel like a problem. For the first time in her life she pondered whether she was a mistake in her parents' lives, in her family. She made a mental note to ask Chris when she got home.

"Are you guy's crazy?" Melinda whispered to herself, not getting the attention of anybody in the room.

Coop found it scarily easy to find Prue, though he didn't know that's who she was. She was sitting on the curb near an Italian restaurant, with a sad, lost little puppy dog look in her eyes. She didn't look up at all when he came near, she had her headphones in and _The Clash _was blasting into her ears. He let one hand rest on the small of her back and he brought her closer to him so she could lean on him. Patiently, he took out her headphones and kissed the top of her head.

"It's all right, baby girl, it's all right," Coop couldn't help but feel connected to the girl. He didn't know if it's because of how much she reminded him of Phoebe, but he just couldn't describe it. Somehow, somewhere, he knew this girl was his.

"I can't take this – I'm seventeen years old, I don't want to travel back in time… I want to go to my prom, Brown, maybe even visit Haiti for a weekend… I don't need an airplane ticket!" She laughed weakly as Coop just smoothed through her hair. "At least… in any time, or space, I can always depend on my dad."

"You bet you can, baby girl," Coop said again and kissed her head, making Prue look up at him with those big brown eyes. "Don't worry, it's our little secret," and with his nose touching hers really quickly. "And I won't tell."

Back at the manor, Melinda couldn't take it anymore.

"Okay," she said, trying to speak up, but cleared her throat. "HEY!" She yelled at them, making them all grow quiet. "Thank you," she added, even more quietly. "Um, well, let's see – I'm not good with… speeches, or attention, but," and now she got perky, more energized than before. "Now, you guys are like moths to the flame, fighting with each other like this – okay, we can't be fighting – we gotta be working together. You know it."

"I know it?" Piper asked heavy sarcasm in her voice. "Exactly what do I know, and you know – Wha – how old are you, even?"

"Young," Melinda said, shrinking backwards into the wall.

"Yeah, too young," Piper said and turned to talk to Phoebe. "This isn't something for some – fifteen year old –"

"Seventeen –"

"To be messing with!"

"I'm not messing with anything!" Melinda said, or screamed, as she needed to be heard.

"Wow, look who went out and saw the wizard," Prue said as she entered the room with Coop.

"Hey," Leo said, a smile forming on his face as he saw them both. He sat at the kitchen table with Henry and Billie, Billie was really the only one paying attention, the other two were talking about baseball. Something Melinda would have gladly joined in on, but that's not the case here. If only she was in her time…her own place. Venice Beach.

"What's going on?" Prue asks everyone, but she's looking at Melinda, who isn't aware of it, but she's shaking. "What? Didn't pack your heroin?" Prue joked as she took hold of Melinda's hand.

"Is that supposed to be funny?" Henry asks from his chair, not very easily amused.

"Well, we're like heroin addicts searching for a clean needle for a fix in this situation – completely fake." Prue was still holding onto Melinda, one of the many things Melinda loved about her was how Prue could be the best older sister in the world within a snap of two fingers, usually Phoebe Halliwell's fingers. "Now, we can all take off our masks now, because lying isn't going to do us any good."

"Prue – "Melinda started as she took a step forward, following Prue's moves, and in shock of her own words and mistake, she clasped her hand over her mouth, her eyes wide.

"Prue?" Phoebe asked, completely dumbfounded now. "As in _Prue_ Prue?"

"As in Prudence Bella Halliwell, Prue. Your daughter, but right now we're allies, sweetie."


	8. Chapter 8

**Okay, maybe it's the music, or my friend Pablo coming over today and chilling with me... or the massive amounts of _True Blood_ that I've been inhaling lately for the season three premiere, but I kind of know where this is going to go now, this isn't intentional, but then again, that trash can... or was it a bonfire? I don't know, but the timeline for this story got mixed up with some crazy ass shit.**

**This chapter does get... effy.  
**

"What do you mean allies?" Billie asked, standing up now from where she was sitting.

"Mother… daughter," Prue said, using hand motions between her and Phoebe. "Not exactly best friends, now, since _Melinda_," and Prue said her name with harsh words as she looked back into the scared and timid light green eyes Melinda held. "Spilled the secret," and she turned her face around now to look at everyone else, and then focused on Piper. "Stop trying to blow us up, and let's try to work together."

"This isn't a business deal," Melinda muttered under her breath, her arms crossed under her chest now. Prue, with her fuse blown, turned on her heel and looked Melinda dead in the eye, with the most deathly look in her eyes that Melinda has ever seen – a look even Piper couldn't conjure up, without the teen angst to go behind it.

"Excuse me? But who was all _Prue_ and being an idiot, surfer chick – now, I love you, Mel, but usually let people think _I'm _the ditz and one hundred and ten percent Phoebe, except I can keep a secret – something you lack." Taking a step forward, almost cutting off the circulation for Melinda, with her severe case of claustrophobia. "It's not my fault if what this situation needs is some stability."

"Yeah," Melinda said, straightening her back and neck, trying to look like she earned balls. "Because going back in time, or meeting people from the future is stable in this family," she said, hysteria on the edge of her voice, as if her voice was a sword, ready to cut the world apart. "Is it not just me, or is that fucked up?"

"In this family, it is," Paige said from the back.

"Language!" Piper snapped, making Melinda look up, with her big puppy eyes at Piper, and melting her heart, which was Melinda's own personal spell on people – even though she rarely ever turns to magic.

"Right," Prue said, turning around to the group. "Okay, from what I can tell – most of you are in shock and too dumbfounded to confront anything, so, Paige, Henry and Billie and I am going to go upstairs to the attic and look through the book and sift through the… remains to know what we need to do to get home, whether this is something psychological or whatever, or if we can use that little… triquetra to get home."

"Yeah, well, I'm older than you and –"

"Melinda!" Prue snapped, turning her head back around to look at her cousin once more. "I love you, I trust, I have complete and utter faith in you when it comes to your sobriety," Prue's own terms to how Melinda chose to not use magic, as if she was some addict. "But do you want to be the center of attention? To take hold of all responsibility – you're the youngest of your family, Honey, I'm the eldest of The Charmed Ones, okay, honey bun, and I know what I'm doing."

"Sure you do," Piper said, heavy sarcasm in her voice. That just made Prue balance herself on her left foot, leaning toward the left as she gave Piper a dirty, mind set look.

"I don't care if I get stupid, measly premonitions, but I'm also an empath, and Melinda here is my own personal fire starter, and I might not kill you, because in the future I love you and you're like a mother, auntie and gran to me, but right now you're annoying the hell out of me."

Raising her own eyebrows, Piper had her own comment to give.

"Well, if I had to guess, I would think you were my daughter."

Smiling wide, Prue showed her what everyone else saw, the smile, in which Phoebe lived. Prue would have said that she wished other people saw that, but despite everything else, her mother was in the room, and she didn't want to hurt her anymore than she wanted or needed to. And Phoebe, who felt like something heavy, was on her chest ever since Coop and Prue stepped in the room, left to be outside, to get some air, making Coop and Billie follow her. Eventually, with a head nod to the direction outside from Piper, Leo followed after them.

"Well, Paige, Henry and…"

"Prue," Prue said, answering Piper's unanswered question.

"Prue," Piper said, feeling nostalgic as she said the name… It felt weird, and a little cold. To her, it felt too long since she had said the name out loud, but she constantly said it in her head, as she was always thinking what would Prue do? And, how would Prue take this? Or handle that or… Well, let's just say, she thought a lot about her, despite how little had been said lately. "Will go up and start drawing the triquetra, Melinda… why don't you come with me?"

"Okay, sure…" Melinda said, a little unsure about it all, she had an uneasy and uncomfortable feeling about being alone with Piper, with her mom. It was a strange feeling for her – since they've always been so close and tight, but she gave a worried, kind of bunny caught look to Prue that made things change.

"Actually, why don't I come with you, Piper? Melinda's much better at artwork than me, and she has a much steadier hand." This was a lie, they both were at the same level when it came to their art, it was the same to both of them, a casual, unbending mind experiment that calmed them both and passed the time, as well as get them money from time to time.

"Um… okay," Piper said, giving in to it all.


	9. Chapter 9

**Almonds and Cherries**

**For Wisdom and Divination**

Outside, the air was crisp and being swallowed by the nervous and talkative Phoebe Halliwell as she ranted on and on for everyone to hear.

"What does she mean?" Phoebe mused over, almost crying… practically crying. "Am I really that much of a horrible mother?" She asked, and Billie was the first to step forward and hold her in a big hug of reassurance.

"Nothing, sweetheart, it means…" after a breath, Billie found the right words. "It's just that she's a teenager, and I didn't like my parents that much either, you know, the whole missing Christie and all," and she took a step back but still held onto Phoebe, keeping her a certain distance away so she could lean down and look her in the eyes. "Her mind is her mind; it doesn't always mean its reality."

"Yeah," Coop agreed as he stepped forward, putting one hand on Phoebe's shoulder as he kissed the top of her head. "She just feels like the way you did, with Grams keeping your home and all to keep The Charmed Ones together. She's just too much like you, wanting to see the world, move to New York, she wants to love and loose, and, like all parents, we probably want to spare her the pain," he said, sounding honest in his calming and soothing voice.

"Or she's just eighteen and fed up with being at home," Leo said, from where he was standing, all mysterious in the darkness, near the door to the house.

"Probably just that," Billie said eagerly, agreeing to the new thoughts. "I was more than ready to leave home when I was eighteen, I had been waiting for ten years, basically, and with my parents acting like I couldn't leave, like it would break them, being all over protective and sensitive, well… it was smothering."

"Am I going to be like that?" Phoebe asked them, horrified at the thought as Coop held her close.

* * *

"Why did you do that?" Piper asked as she threw some things into the boiling watered pot on the stove, she didn't even bother looking back to Prue, who was leaning against the counter, her eyes solid as the sky.

"Do what?" Prue asked, trying to be innocent, but she sounded far from it, she sounded like a pro.

"Walk over her, act like you could read her mind or something."

"Well…" Prue mused over something to say as she bit her lower lip, but she just looked out the back door, wondering what was going on out there. "Melinda isn't the best at interrogation, I'm sure the last thing she needs added to this day is her mother, _from the past_, ask her a bunch of odd and awkward questions about their relationship, prom, college, and how good of a mother she is."

There was a moment of silence, as if letting Piper admitting that this was the truth, and without the question, Prue answered them for her.

"You're a great mom, Piper," and that made Piper stop in her cooking. "Unlike most mom's, you didn't really need to change your outlook on life at all, you're just… you, understanding, a little pissy and PMSing all the time, but you're always there, to make cookies with, have lemonade in the fridge, and… yeah. You're not so much a people person, as you are a family person, because you value your blood," Prue moved to where Piper was standing, so she could look at her face, and Piper instinctively looked up at Prue in return. "Melinda is just carefree, easy going and just wants the same normal life you like, and she kind of acts like she's stoned," Prue admitted, rolling her eyes to the side. "She's never though; she doesn't really turn that way. She's just cool and laid back, a surfer, and she's going to be a student at a SoCal art college, and she's probably going to live at home, and, for the record, Chris is very happily married, and Wyatt is an excellent father," Piper's eyes perked up at this, a little bit of every emotion in her eyes. "No matter how young he is, and you and Leo are perfect for each other," Prue ended it off with a kiss on Piper's forehead before walking away, to check on her own mother and father outside.


	10. Chapter 10

**Almonds and Cherries**

**For Wisdom and Divination**

"You think this will be it?" Melinda asked Henry and Paige as she helped Henry with the cleaning as Paige drew on the triquetra. "Just walking right through after some spell?"

"It's worked before," Paige said, not feeling very much like talking – like changing the future.

"Yeah, but… what if us, me and Prue's being here is something bigger – something that is meant for you, Phoebe and Billie."

"I don't know what you're talking about," Paige said, her voice almost monotonic, making Henry curious as to what she was avoiding.

"I'd like to know," Henry said, as he walked toward Paige, still cleaning. "Why these things happen – are they just that random, or does your life have an actual purpose?"

Paige, now a little pissed, with fire burning in her eyes, stopped drawing and darted her eyes on Henry.

"What does that mean?" She demanded of him, claiming her reigning title of Butch Matthews – Halliwell, in Henry's mind.

"All of these occurrences, these demons, life or death, apocalypitcal, ugh, it's all… it feels random to me, just… like you could deal without it." He explained, sitting on the couch, now.

"It's not like I asked for it," Paige reminded him, her hands on her hips as she cocked her head to the right and the sound of her voice actually came back.

"I know that, Paige," Henry said from his post. "It's just… I know and I feel that our relationship is real – that it was set in destiny, but… if you weren't a witch, would we still have met? And how?"

"Henry…" Paige said as she walked over and sat next to him on the couch. "I love you, and… I don't know the answer to that, but I bet in whatever other worlds out there, you would be happy with your life," and with her hands on his face, she leaned in forward and said, "because I wouldn't let you be anything less," and kissed him.

Melinda just stood there, waiting, as if she would ever need to tell them anything of their future – well, not tonight.

As Prue walked outside, Leo was just walking in, as if he was waiting to get back inside to Piper ever since he stepped outside. Such a loyal, loving husband, Prue thought to her with a smile and then saw her mother surrounded by Billie and Coop, looking all sad and devastated, almost weakened, as if anything could weaken a crone like her. Coop looked up just in time to see Prue exit the house, and tapped Billie on the shoulder once, making her look over and they both left after a sentimental moment between them and Phoebe and a weird glance with Prue and Billie occurred before it was just Prue and Phoebe outside.

The night was dark, and that surprised Prue – it was already night time.

The time was quiet, and that scared the both of them. Prue, ready to leave, turned on her heel to get out of there, and Phoebe didn't stop her. Prue, ready to explode, after so much imploding, turned around and started walking towards Phoebe, breaking the distance between them.

Her entire body fuming flames and energy, Prue stood right in front of Phoebe, and that worried Phoebe, that her own daughter could hold so much power and hatred… for her.

"Have something you gotta say?" Prue asked, that certain teen – sarcastic edge in her voice, and in her eyes, setting down to her lips…

"Why do you hate me?" Phoebe asked, her eyes getting wet at asking her this.

"I – I –"Prue was flustered now, because Phoebe never asked her that. Phoebe never really asked her anything in her life, she always just sported her view, and that gave Prue words to say. "You never ask me anything, about what I want or where I want to go, or what I even want to do with my life! It's like I'm some sad, pathetic, fan of yours asking for advice, when I don't want it! Don't you understand? I need a mother, not Ask Phoebe," she said, full mockery in her voice. "A mother would be nice, some understanding not orders and demands. I have my own life – something that I would like to have part in, but what the hell?" She mused, her hands on her hips now as she straightened her back. "If you had it your way, we'd be the same, me, Penny and Josie, we'd all be living together until we were in our thirties."

"I'm sorry," Phoebe said after a while of silence, giving relief to Prue. She didn't like waiting for an answer, especially in silence. She felt tested. Trapped.

"For what?" Prue eventually asked, she wasn't used to hearing – she'd _never _heard her mother say that she was sorry, and she wanted to know what she was sorry for, to document it in the pages.

"That I'm a horrible mother," Phoebe said, her eyes somewhere else…

"Your –" Prue didn't want to see her mom like this, she wanted to see her hit by a trunk, or left by her husband, because he was way too good for her, in Prue's opinion, but she didn't like seeing her mother weak. She wasn't used to this. To any of this. "It's just… me," she admitted, joining the club that everyone else was subscribing to on Facebook. "I just want my freedom, I want – I don't want anything, really. It'd just be nice to get to know you, but – you're always so cold, like some corpse."

Phoebe immediately just thought of her mother.

"Maybe I'm just trying to save you – you know, I lost my mother when I was young and… too early, trust me, it's a miracle I've lived to see you turn eighteen."

"It'll be a miracle if you see me off to prom," Prue told her, honestly.

All Phoebe knew to do was give her a hug, the perfect thing to do at the time.


	11. Chapter 11

**To the end, and to the beginning...**

Everyone was gathered around in the attic, giving hugs and thoughtful goodbyes. For one, Melinda couldn't let go of Piper and Leo, and kissed both of them on the cheeks, and hugged them both at the same time.

"I couldn't be given a better family," she told them, hugging them tight to her chest.

Prue was quiet around Phoebe, out of respect, for bad mouthing her for the past… sixteen years? Eh, maybe fifteen. Though, she wasn't all quiet, after Coop came over and told them that they needed to get the show going, Prue held onto Phoebe one quick, last time and kissed her on the cheek before whispering into her ear, "I love you."

**I can only think of more Charmed fanfictions that I'd like to put to this website and onto my cluttered and cramped computer - yes, trust me, I do have a semblance of a life, it does not all revolve around writing, but not against it :D see you later, love, Issa**


End file.
